Dultural Tourism & Tourism Cultures: The Business of Mediating Experiences in Copenhagen and Singapore [Paperback]

Can-Seng Ooi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 8763000911 | ISBN-13: 978-8763000918 | Publication Date: May 2002

Presenting a comprehensive and dynamic understanding of cultural tourism, this volume examines cultural mediators and how they help tourists appreciate foreign cultures. It also shows how tourism experiences are strategically crafted by mediators, the complexity of the mediation process, and how various products are mediated differently. A number of different products are investigated, including destination brand identities, "living" cultures and everyday life, art and history. The author illustrates his arguments by comparing the tourism strategies of Copenhagen and Singapore, and demonstrates how tourism is an agent for social change. The author also offers an original and refreshing way of understanding tourist behaviour through the concept of the "versatile tourist". The book's empirical cases and dialogic framework provide new and deep insights into tourism activities. In his conclusions the author reminds us that we are constantly bombarded by brands, media reviews and advertisements, and the issues raised here inspire us to reflect beyond tourism and into other forms of mediated consumption.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a book for twenty-first century tourism developments. -- Richard Prentice, Professor of Heritage Interpretation & Cultural Tourism

This work bids fair to reshape our understanding of the entire world of global travel. -- Stanford M. Lyman, Morrow Eminent Scholar & Professor of Social Science

Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: Copenhagen Business School Pr (May 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8763000911
• ISBN-13: 978-8763000918
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,314,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #77 in Books > Travel > Europe > Denmark > Copenhagen

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tourism mediation, October 11, 2002

By 

Anne McZith (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dultural Tourism & Tourism Cultures: The Business of Mediating Experiences in Copenhagen and Singapore (Paperback)

Tourists want to enjoy themselves, they have little local knowledge and their visits are relatively short, these are the starting premises of this book. Consequently, the author argues, tourists need and want help when they visit new places, so as to enhance their experiences. Thinking about myself as a tourist, I do need help from "cultural mediators" (the term used in the book), otherwise I might as well feel as lost as I am on Mars, rather than in some exotic and friendly country. Tourism experiences are being influenced by cultural mediators; even backpackers rely on their Lonely Planets!

Another idea that runs through this book is that tourists do not consume culture, they consume only senses of culture. So, for example, tourists who want and are experiencing authenticity are really only having a sense of authenticity. Mediators help them achieve this sense. This is a radical but refreshing argument! The author presents the discussions compellingly, as he/she provides many examples (brand identities, everyday life, history and art) from Denmark and Singapore.

After reading and thinking about the ideas offered in the book, I am convinced that mediation is in the centre of tourism experiences. It is time that people move away from the "tourist gaze". This book offers a persuasive alternative.